David Cameron pressured to set earlier EU referendum date so MP's 101-year-old mother can vote

Conservative MP David Amess raised a laugh in Parliament after asking David
Cameron to bring forward his pledge for an EU referendum so his centenarian
mother could vote.

2:56PM BST 24 Apr 2013

David Amess, Conservative MP for Southend West, said his mother Maud was "delighted" that the prime minister had commited the party to an in/out referendum on the EU after the next general election.

However, he added that given his mother would turn 101 next Thursday, she had asked him to enquire whether it could be brought forward, prompting laughter in the Commons.

David Cameron is under increasing pressure from MPs to speed up his plans for a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union to make the party "believable" when it campaigns on the issue in the run-up to 2015.

Mr Cameron joked Mrs Amess would get a referendum if she voted Conservative in the next election.